The Woodlands Week 4

Mommy!

This week was just like any other week, nothing over the top special. For my birthday we had dinner at a members house, and had albondigas y arroz (meatballs and rice). It was a good meal, and then after that we went to English class and had nachos with the cub scouts.

I did get the package, it arrived Thursday,but I didn't get it until Friday. Thank y'all so much for thinking of me. Elder Aholelei said he really liked the Rice Krispy treat, and says thanks. I really like the ring you got for me, especially because it's a Haz Lo Justo (Choose the Right) and it fits well. I took my comp to Chick-Fil-A and it was delicious.

Friday we had exchanges, I stayed here and Elder Perez came down. I'd say this was my big learning experience of the week. Being able to study with him has helped out my teaching, he was able to give me little pointers about little things and some bigger things that I can do to be a better teacher.

Usually on P-Days we go with the Elders in Conroe and play sports, but once it's the end of the month and everyone is low on miles, we are just hanging out around the house today. I really enjoy P-Days, they are a nice day to relax. 

Yeah, nothing overly exciting happening down here. But we did get a new car, we are now driving a Chevy Cruz. It's pretty nice, a lot better than the old Corolla. I am pretty jealous of the Colorado though, that looks like it's a nice truck, color and everything.

Much love from down here in the south!

Elder Atkinson (Nic)

The Woodlands Week 3

Hey Mommy!

Yes, I did get the package and letter, but I forgot to put my apartment number, it is 1621, so now you know what it is. :) The mailmen know the missionaries here.

Again, it is always fun to hear about everything that is going on back at home, making sure everyone is good still. Thanks so much for the sibling videos, they were exactly what I was looking for. Also, did y'all get my letters that I sent?

This week was a lot of contacting. We kept trying, but I feel like we were in the wrong areas to find the Hispanics, everyone we saw was pretty much English speaking. Hopefully this week we will get more extito with Hispanics than last week. This week the plan is to go to a different area and really focus our efforts there. I am excited to see what it brings. 

On Tuesday we had mission presidents interviews, we do it about every two transfers, where we sit down and talk with President Mortensen for a little bit. It was good, I was able to see what we can do to help bring more activities to the ward. After church on Sunday, we went over to a family's house, and had dinner there to celebrate my birthday and another misionera's birthday. We ate dinner, and then had a tres leches cake, which was awesome!

So, something I learned... obedience is the key to happiness, like when you do all the nitty grity stuff that the mission asks you to do, the Lord will put fun things to do in your way, so I guess, like obedience is the key to blessings. That and how awesome the Book of Mormon really is. I just enjoy reading it and as I am going, I come to chapters I'm like, wow, that's my a really cool chapter, and then the next day, wow, a really cool chapter.

I love y'all soo much!

Elder Atkinson (Nic)

The Woodlands Week 2

Whats up Mommy!!

Your favorite missionary is doin' awesome!! The packages will be held at the office, so it's OK to send them to the apartments.  

This week we did do quite a bit of contacting, but we also worked to help me know the area. We usually go and serve with a place called Special Angels, a place were we help and play with the special needs people
there. It is really fun to go and help them out. One of the people we are teaching, went to church, which was awesome! Other than that, nothing too interesting happened. Oh, we did have an exchange, I went up to Conroe with Elder Serrano, which was really fun. We talked over a lot of things, and I learned so much from him.

Before I forget, I went to the baptism Saturday for the family from Waller and it was awesome! I actually got to baptize the dad, which was really cool.

I love yall so much!

Elder Atkinson (Nic)

The Woodlands Week 1

Whats up Mom?

I left Waller and now I am in another W area, The Woodlands! I can tell you that I am still pretty sad about leaving Waller, but I feel as if Heavenly Father is helping me get over it, because I feel like there is quite a bit that I need to do here. Its an interesting feeling, just kinda... right, if that makes any sense.

The Woodlands is kinda more like were y'all live (the Doylestown area), wooded, some trailer parks, lots of subdivisions, and some apartments. But my new companion is really awesome, his name is Elder Aholelei and he is from Hawaii, I know, pretty cool right. He has been out  for about six  months so he is my first comp that I am older than (in the mission). He seems really cool and we get along well for the week that I have been with him. I am really excited to see things open up in this area. The Address to send everything (packages or letters) to would be: 26325 Northgate Crossing Blvd., Spring, TX 77373.

This week I have been just basically getting to know the area and some of the people in it. We have also been doing a lot of contacting to help find more people to teach and whatnot. I have met some pretty cool members and some pretty cool investigators. But in all honestly we have spent the majority of our time contacting (knocking on doors), so the week was pretty boring to write about. 

For the fourth we didn't really do anything overwhelmingly fun, like I said contacting and maybe teaching a bit. I sure did miss Litiz (where we go for fireworks) and hope y'all had a fun time there. One of the guys we visited had some fire works, so we watched him shoot off a few. Our ward mission leader is Argentino, which I think that dad would like, hopefully we get to go over there and eat some of the good Argentine food and make dad a bit jealous.

I will most likely be going back to Waller for the baptism, and if I do I will probably be performing one of the baptisms, it would be super exciting!

.

Love you mom!

Elder Atkinson (Nic)

Last activity in Waller - he loves these people!

Transfer Time

His New Companion

Waller Week 18

Hello mom!

So the bad news is that I am getting transferred. I'm gonna be leaving Waller and headed out to new places. It would be fun to come back, but I don't know if I will. I will miss all of my people out here. There  were just a lot of things that I wanted to do here in the coming month, but now I can't.  I will let you know of my address as soon as possible. 

The weather this week has been a healthy combination of hot and hot, with some rain yesterday. We have not lost our power, thankfully. Though it has been extremely hot in Texas. Sometimes I go out just for a little bit and then I start sweating, it's not too fun, but I still love it here. This week we had a family home evening with one of the members and our investigators, it went well, and I'm loving how well the family is doing. They are really humble and willing to make the changes they need to make, which is really awesome.

It was one of the sister missionaries birthday this week, she turned 21, so we got her a walker, it was really funny. At the end of district meeting after a good discussion on repentance, we played Bean Boozzled. It is a jelly bean game where you spin a spinner and see which flavor of jelly bean you get to eat. The funny part is there are normal beans and then disgusting flavored ones, barf, boogers, dog food, etc. After district meeting, I went on exchanges with Elder Wagner down in H10 (a Spanish ward). It was fun to go down there and experience that. We
went to a baptism there and taught some pretty good lessons. We switched back on Saturday and then had a baptism for the Spanish branch which is awesome, it's a guy the sisters are working with, and he is just really cool. Sunday just a lot of church. That was pretty much my week.

I am off to hang with the district and enjoy the last day with them.

I love you all!

Elder Atkinson (Nic)

English Class

Waller Week 17

Mommy!

I am doing absolutely fantastic here in Texas, all the flooding you probably heard about, didn't happen here. We got some rain, but for the most part it was hot and sunny this past week. I did get the 2 packages and they were great, thanks for thinking of how much I enjoy Star Wars.  Also, we get transfer calls this Sunday, so I don't know if I'll be staying or leaving, I've been praying to stay, so I hope I stay. 

This week has been awesome, the family we are teaching (Parents and a teenage son)  are doing great, they love the members and the atmosphere of church. They are also reading the Book of Mormon which is really cool. They all went to church and loved it, we went been over to there house multiple times this week and every time they are so excited to see us.  You have no idea how excited I get to go over there.

On Friday we had a party with the Spanish branch for Father's Day, which was awesome! They love to party. It was a really fun night with everyone, lots of laughs and everything. On Wednesday morning we went to the temple, and it was fantastic. I love going there and the spirit that is there is incomparable. I learned so much there and was really happy to have gone. I hope the president makes it a thing to go every transfer, which I think would be really cool. I did get to do some random service things for members. I helped paint a baby crib which was pretty fun, then had bomb lasagna.

That's basically my life here in Texas, and all the other little things missionaries do.

Much love from down here! The favorite kid (I know it's true)

Elder Atkinson (Nic)

  

Waller Week 16

Hey Mom!

Texas is doin' great, getting a little hotter! But that is kinda what I expected. I don't really know how hot it is getting here, but high 80's low 90's sounds about right. I'll work with the case for a bit and see how I like it, I'll probably just stick with it cause that is my way, do what is easiest (with things that don't matter too much). (His new Ipad case is VERY protective, he seemed to think it was overkill.  I told him the missionaries here really liked theirs so to try it out for a bit) 

Could you send me an update on what the temple looks like the next time that you go? It would make me super happy to see how it is comin' along. Will it be done by the time I get home? If so I definitely want to go and do a session in it when I get home. Speaking of the temple, I am gonna go this week (Wednesday)!!!! It will be so exciting, I will do a session and it will be absolutely great! Can't wait! 

I'm glad to hear that everyone at home is doin' good, and those abroad. I love Lathen's talk, it makes me really happy every time that I see it. (Kiley is in Japan and we recorded Lathen's first talk, at home, not in church, and sent it to him) 

Dejáme ver (Let me see), my week was really fun. We were able to get in and teach the family a lot which is really fun, and it's really cool that they are reading the Book of Mormon together and then discussing it. I love seeing how people grow and change when the Gospel comes into their lives. We set a goal that the middle of the next month they will be baptized, which I am really excited about. It is totally doable, they are so prepared! 

This week we also did some service, como siempre (like always), which was really fun, tambien como siempre (also, like always). We helped out at this one ward members house putting on a roof and some framing, which is really fun. Afterwards we got to eat a pulled pork roast, corn, potatoes, and chili, the majority of which is from his garden which was really cool. I also got to eat a really good omelet this week, I'd say it was
bigger than my hand, but it was soooo good!

I went on an exchange down to the Fairfield area where I got to ride a bike, which was cool to pretend I was how people see the majority of the missionaries (on bikes). 

Sunday was really fun, we got to go to the Temple Tours, which President Mortensen set up to help show investigators, less actives, etc about the importance of the temples. It was really cool to go there and feel the spirit of the temple. 

So this week was pretty much a blast! I am excited to get the packages! Could you maybe record each of my
siblings doing something, preferably where I could hear their voices and then send me that video so I could have it. I have really enjoyed Lathen's and I think it would be cool for my other sibs to get the same chance. I love hearing from y'all, and y'all's stories! Keep them comin' mom, even if they are boring. I love y'all so much, and miss y'all. You are great influences in my life and good examples. If you ever have advice for me, send it my way pls.

Elder Atkinson (Nic)